Sitting across from Owen at the breakfast table today, he tells me "Dad, you need to get a real job. You can be a police man, a fire fighter, a mail man, or the President. What do you want to be?"
"Hmmm, I think I'll be the President."
"You don't want to be the President, that's a boring job. You just sit at a desk all day and talk to people. You should be a mail man, now that is a cool job!"
Tonight we had one of those great California adventures - an earthquake! Cassidy and I were in the kitchen when we heard the rumbling, such a low bass that it drums right through your body. After a few seconds of rumble, the shaking started and before long it was like a train running right through our backyard. Every time an earthquake hits, you have that split second where you need to figure out if this is a fun one, or if the house is going to start falling down around you.
With this one, it took about 10 seconds and it was clear that this one was all fun. It hit 5.6 on the richter scale which is pretty much the perfect "fun" earthquake. It's big enough so that everybody within 80 miles feels it, it shakes enough that you'll be thinking about it for days, and yet nobody gets hurt and nothing breaks. Once you cross over that 6.0 mark, someone is going to be hurt and there will be damage somewhere. Then there's 1989 and the Loma Prieta quake - don't get me started!
So, what does tonight's quake have to do with Owen looking down a hole? Well, this was the first quake that Owen has experienced, at least in his 5 yr old list of memories, and he was pumped up about it! He and Grant were upstairs while Cassidy and I were downstairs. Staci had just walked out to the Garage. As the quake was hitting its apex, I was running up the stairs to make sure they were ok. Owen had this huge smile on his face, "Wow, that was cool!"
"Owen, that was an earthquake! The ground was shaking under our feet." I started to explain. I tried to explain it to Grant but he was having none of it. He didn't seem fazed by it.
"Dad, let's do that again!"
"Well..." I started
"Hey Dad, let's go look and see the animals that were shaking the house."
"Huh?"
"Yeah, let's look down and see the animals!"
After a few minutes, we realized that he wanted to check out the crawlspace under the house. Armed with his flashlight, he was ready to take on the world. Who knows what he thinks has been living down there, but evidently it's big enough to shake our house!
Overheard at the dinner table tonight...
Staci, Owen, and Cassidy were talking about a converstaion from earlier in the afternoon about wishes. Staci asked Owen, "Do you remember my wish?"
"Hmmm... no?"
"My wish was that Grant would learn to talk."
"It's ok, Mom. Grant has his own language! He's ok." Smiles all around the table, and then he continued in a whisper, "Mom, I changed my wish."
"You did?"
He leans into her ear and whispers, "I love you mom."
Melting ensued.
No, seriously. It's my own fault. I stayed up a little too late reading blogs and found this guy who has been recording TV since 1976! Don't click on the link! Well, not if you value your spare time anyway. If you go there, you will not leave your seat for a long time. I'm just warning you. Fascinating. Hilarious. Uncanny.
Hmm.. I'm probably not getting any sleep tonight. Somebody help me!
overheard at the dinner table tonight...
"... thank You for our blessings, amen"
"pfffffffft"
"Owen, what was that? Do you know who we are talking to when we pray?"
"Who?"
"God."
"Oh... but where is He?"
"He's everywhere."
"But he's not in our town."
"He's not in our town?"
"No, he's invisible. He's in invisible town!"
Laughter erupted at the table in one of those "can't help laughing even during a teaching moments".
My predilection for procrastination is seeping into my blogging... Ideas run through my head at work, on the way home, at the dinner table, and then, when I actually have a few minutes after the kids are in bed, I put off writing until I'm too tired to put together a coherent thought. So, in honor of this nasty habit, I'm writing today about last week's party.
The "big act" for Owen's part was the arrival of Spiderman, in all of his full cheesy-costume glory. As the resident ham in the family, I of course relished this role and had been looking forward to it. The plan was to have everybody, especially Owen, out in the backyard with Spidey music blaring when Owen's "favorite hero" made his appearance. We had burned all of the various Spiderman theme songs to CD - the perfect mix!
Unfortunately, the plan quickly went awry... Owen somehow snuck back in the house and was walking upstairs just as Spidey was walking out of my bedroom. "Dad... get that thing off you!", Owen pleaded. Hmmm.. the suprise factor was now at zero. I didn't acknowledge it and kept trying to pull off the act. I picked him up and ran outside with him - Spiderman was at the party! A few kids cried, a few were so excited they could barely contain themselves, but Owen would have none of it. "Dad, you're not Spiderman. Take that off." Is he a future detective, perhaps?
My spidey sense was tingling as a murmur went through the adults in the crowd. Sure enough, 0ur next door neighbor sided up and gave me the plan. I would make a quick exit, change back into my Peter Parker clothes, and the neighbor would become Spiderman. Let's see what Owen does with that!
A few minutes after I came out asking Owen about Spiderman - "Owen, I can't believe I missed Spiderman!" - here came Spiderman #2! The look on Owen's face was priceless - oh for a picture of that! He was silent for a few minutes and you could see the wheels turning at a ferocious pace. Finally, he had enough and he just let Spidey have it - "Spiderman, get out of here!" Even if he didn't know "who" it was, he wasn't going to back down. All that talk about "his favorite hero" and he wanted no part of him now. We played with it for a few more minutes but it was his party after all and we didn't want to push it to far. Our hopes of him being thrilled by having Spidey at his party were dashed, but the actual outcome turned out to be funnier (and a better story).
I mentioned my one known talent a few days ago and my forgetfulness to bring a video camera to the Letterman audition.
So, at a company party yesterday, I was enticed to do a siren for the crowd and now it's on youtube (my first appearance).
Just a hallway apart, two boys with amazingly different verbal skills go to bed...
Owen, at 4, is much like Cassidy was at 4. The words flow - new ones, funny ones, everyday comes with plenty of words to enjoy. Tonight, as Staci was saying prayers with Owen, he began,
"Dear Jesus, thank you for this day..." and then he began singing "I had a bad day" with a sly smile on his face. You just never know what's going to come out of his mouth next - he is hilarious!
Over in Grant's room, I was writing words on his Magna Doodle to have him read them. Tonight we were mostly doing Toy Story words. Buzz (Buh), Woody (Woody) - wait! he put the D in Woody, first time ever! It has always been Woo-ey, but tonight it was clear as a bell 'Woody' - wow! Then, a few words later, I wrote 'Rex'. I didn't think he knew that one so I said it to him and then a "roar". He tried to say Rex, and then then he said dinosaur! I had no idea he even knew what a dinosaur was, let alone that he could say it! Not only that, but he had all 3 syllables too!
Two great kids, each pushing their own limits in their own ways, thrilling us as parents who desire to see our kids reach their full potential.
I haven't shaved my face since Sunday, but it's just at that noticeable stubble stage. So, I'm putting Owen to bed and I give him a nice big kiss on the cheek.
He squeals, "Ouch Dad!! You have thorns on your face!"
"You mean whiskers?"
"No, those aren't whiskers, those are thorns!"
I just found the chelation kid comic recently - today's is hilarious! Even those who are not in agreement with chelation will enjoy this one.
I've also added the strip to the bottom of my blog to share the fun.
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